Thanks to Zach Toups for sending in this story. Reiner Knizia is working with Merscom to creat new titles and port some of his boards games to the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and PC platforms. Here's the press release. Link

It is with a heavy heart that we mention the passing of game designer Franz Benno Delong. He was only 50 years old. Mr. DeLonge had 13 games to his credit including Container, due out at Essen this year. His other titles include: Big City, Dos Rios, Fjords, Goldbräu, Hellas, Kunstmarkt, Manila, Nah Dran!, TransAmerica, TransEuropa, Zahltag, Zanzibar

Mystery Connection ContestCan you find a connection between these two games? We find a mystery connection each episode and challenge you, the listener, to hunt for it! Post your guesses to the Forum. Find the connection and you could win a pair of custom Spiel dice !

Hey, I'm a man of my word :-)
Please pass the Spiel Dice to Jonathan Moody.
[Great Episode - I'm all fired up to drink blood from the skull of my enemies now]
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We don't stop playing games when we get old...... We get old when we stop playing games

I sent a note to Jonathan congratulating his victory by proxy but I have yet to hear back from him.

I so wanted to include the musical theme from the 1958 classic The Vikings in this episode, but it proved to be very difficult to find. It really would have set the right tone.

The movie stars Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine as Ragnar and is one of the last of the Hollywood epic films. A listener from Sweden, Patrik, wrote in to correct some of the inaccurate stereotypes concerning vikings that we are guilty of perpetuating, like the fact they did not wear horned helmets, etc. I first saw The Vikings in a Norse literature course where we were asked to spot all the inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the depiction of Viking culture. Nothing like Vikings with New York accents! Despite (or perhaps because of) these glaring errors it is highly recommended viewing if you like all things Viking, especially as part of a double feature with Erik the Viking !